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Monday, November 23, 2015

A Different Path by Janet Nicola James

Gender transition against his will.

"A Different Path" is another excellent work by Janet Nicola James, an author who, in this novella, extrapolates the dangers of social engineering to project a dystopian, gender-manipulated future, a kind of Dr. Mengele on steroids world. This is a story that comes complete, at no extra charge, with a very uneasy, queasy feeling.

Our hapless protagonist Charles, a young, somewhat effeminate and co-dependent lad, has the misfortune of living in a society that is hurtling out of control by employing science to fix a serious problem. Set a generation in the future, a national governing body, employing an "Emergency Powers" act, has dictated who can remain male and who must become female.

At first Charles buys into this, but does not disclose that he has some ulterior motives. This failure to be completely forthcoming totally backfires on Charles because of a nefarious subplot involving those he trusts that he has the misfortune to learn about, but only after it is too late.